21.04.2010

Politics & the Nation

• SC upholds Manu Sharma’s life term
• The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the conviction and life impris-onment awarded to Manu Sharma, son of senior Congress leader and former Union minister Venod Sharma, in Jessica Lall murder case. The SC also upheld the conviction as well as sentence of 4 years jail term of Vikas Yadav and Amarjeet Singh Gill for destruction of evidence.
• Tamilnadu nominates AR Lakshmanan on Mullaperiyar row
• Reversing its stand not to participate in the five-member empowered committee constituted by Supreme Court to resolve the long pending dispute on the Mullaperiyar dam with Kerala, Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday nominated former Judge of Supreme Court Justice A. R. Lakshmanan in the committee.
• The Supreme Court, while hearing petitions by Tamil Nadu and Kerala governments on the dam issue, had constituted a committee headed by Justice A. S. Anand, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, to resolve the dispute.
• The committee consisted of two representatives of the Centre, one each from Tamil Nadu and Kerala besides Justice Anand.
• Kerala government has already nominated Justice K. T. Thomas, former Supreme Court Judge, as its nominee.

Finance & Economy

• Monetary policy review by RBI
• The RBI raised the two key policy rates—reverse repo and repo—by 25 basis points each, and left banks with Rs 12,500 crore less to lend with a 25 bps increase in the cash reserve ratio (CRR).
• This rate hike is seen as moderate by any standard in the current circumstances. Therefore, most bankers think RBI will have to raise rates as well as increase the CRR in small doses during the year.
• Banks borrow from RBI at the repo rate while parking (or lending) surplus funds at the reverse repo rate. After Tuesday’s rate action, the repo and reverse repo rates are 5.25% and 3.75%, respectively. The CRR, which is like a tax on lenders, is the slice of customer deposit that banks have to set aside as cash with RBI. After the 25 bps CRR hike, from 5.75% to 6%, banks will have Rs 12,500 crore less to lend from the fortnight beginning April 24.
• RBI began tightening in January when it raised the CRR by 50 bps in two stages. This was followed by the 25 bps increase in repo and reverse repo in March. While RBI has been slower than its counterparts in Australia and Israel in raising rates, it has been quicker in reversing the cycle than the Chinese central bank and monetary authorities in many advanced economies.
• What are the extant rules governing sweat equity?
• Is the current regime good or bad? And why?
• Take a look at this ET editorial on the subject. Well worth a read. Makes a strong case for not just retaining sweat equity; it even calls for a further liberalization.
• Is there a caste basis for Indian socialism?
• SSA Aiyar emphatically argues and proves that there in fact is. To understand the whole concept a read of his op-ed piece is a must. But an excerpt worth our attention to get a quick peek:
• Nehru and Co felt that Indian Brahmin-intellectuals were superior to whites, but also that Indian marwaris and banias were inferior. Their superiority complex on the moral and intellectual plane co-existed with a deep inferiority complex on the business plane. Their solution was to go for central planning. This approach assumed that benevolent planners knew better than producers or consumers what should be produced or consumed. The licence-permit raj asserted that people were best off when they had no power at all to decide what should be produced or consumed — that was best left to the rulers!

International

• Zardari signs bill to clip own wings
• Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday signed a historic bill seeking amendment in the country's constitution to strip off the sweeping presidential power and strengthen parliamentary democracy.
• The 18th Constitutional Amendment Bill was signed at a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, his cabinet members, opposition PML-N Chief Nawaz Sharif and others.
• The new law will cut some of the major powers of the President such as appointing the chiefs of the country's three armed forces, dissolving parliament and dismissing a democratically elected government.
• The amendment will repeal changes made to the constitution by former military rulers Zia-ul-Haq and Pervez Musharraf to strengthen their power.

Language Lessons

• pidgin: Noun
• An artificial language used for trade between speakers of different languages
• eg: ...It has been so since the time he air-dropped himself on to the constituency, and led a typhoon-like campaign that sidelined long-time party workers, relied on electronic campaign ideas and charmed himself into the hearts of youth and women with his flowing hair, pidgin Malayalam and a man-in-a-hurry image.
• abashed
• Adjective: Feeling or caused to feel uneasy and self-conscious
• Verb: Cause to be embarrassed; cause to feel self-conscious
• eg: Most state police forces would be abashed if there were seven crude bombs found just outside the gates of a cricket stadium where a high-visibility Indian Premier League (IPL) match was being played.